Creating and curing obesity

Better late than never, I guess. I’ve only just realized that the September issue of Scientific American was entitled Feast and Famine, and juxtaposed the ironic twin killer trends of hunger and obesity. Most of the material is unfortunately behind a paywall, but I have borrowed a hardcopy from a colleague and will be reading through it in the near future. If you’ve already done so and have any comments on what the various high-profile authors involved say about agrobiodiversity, let us know. One commentator has said:

This issue of Scientific American tells us there’s money to be made by creating and then curing obesity. That’s what the science approach to obesity is about and what the prevention-based approach is up against. ((I’ve borrowed my title from this article.))

Do you agree with this take?

Food Security and Nutrition Forum

The Agricultural Development Economics Division of FAO is launching a Food Security and Nutrition Forum (FSN Forum) on 16th October.

The purpose of this Forum is to provide an online platform where practitioners can share their experiences and resources, provide peer coaching and support and find collective solutions to issues related to Food Security and Nutrition (FS&N), with a focus on FS&N Policies and Strategies. Discussions will take place on the Forum’s mailing list and directly on the Forum’s website. The Web site is also an important pool of relevant resources and information on FS&N. The forum is public. Joining the forum is free, voluntary and open to anyone interested in contributing advice, experience and expertise for use by others, or for adapting others’ advice, experience and expertise for their own use.

I’ll keep an eye on the discussion and post any really interesting stuff that comes up on the role of agrobiodiversity in food and nutritional security.

Vitamin A makes a convert

Grahame Jackson is a plant pathologist and root crops expert who’s been working in the South Pacific for I guess going on for 30 years now. ((Full disclosure: He’s also a good friend of mine.)) Yet he’s not afraid of admitting he can still learn something by doing intensive fieldwork, as you can read over at my old stamping ground, PGR News from the Pacific, now ably helmed by Tevita Kete:

Continue reading “Vitamin A makes a convert”